I do not own The Last Ship
Part 5: Recovering
Chapter 1
18 February 2015
Tom gazed along the length of his ship from the pier. You couldn't see any damage from out here and she still looked OK. It was only inside where you could appreciate the damage. And, more importantly, what was missing. And who was missing.
To know that he'd never see Ruiz again when he went on to the bridge, or Barker when he went into CIC, never see Chief Lynn standing in engineering, never see Rios hovering around his MedBay, or any of the seventeen other members of his crew who had died. That was what he missed.
And then there were the ones that hopefully he would see again, but not for a while. Some of his most important support structures on board; Mike, Andrea Garnett and Russ Jeter.
And to know that the woman who had made it so he would see those very special people again had also gone. And he'd let her. Because he couldn't get his head sorted out quickly enough. By this time she would probably be in Denver. Sowing her magic there the way she had here. He hadn't been able to stop her going but he had made sure that she would have the best protection possible while she was away. That much was in his gift. He hoped she did what she needed to do and got back safely because he didn't think he'd be able to face himself if something happened to her and she didn't get back.
"Ready, sir?" It was Foster. Green and Granderson stood slightly behind them, ready to present a united front. The Captain, XO and the sole remaining senior officers. They and the remaining fit crew were off to see something that you didn't see every day; the inauguration of a new president. Jeffrey Michener would become the 47th President of the United States.
He turned to Foster, "Yes, XO. Let's go."
19 February 2015
"I think we've just about finished up with interrogating Ramsay, sir," Danny reported, "We can hand him over to the FBI or Secret Service or whatever."
"Sit down you two," he told them. They were in his office, two days after Rachel left. Not that he was counting, of course. "Coffee?" he asked Green, already offering a jug of cold water to Kara Foster. She smiled in thanks as Green accepted a coffee. "It's FBI actually. A group of them came in over land from Chicago and we picked up a few from Quantico. Now the President's here we're starting to set up a proper Federal infrastructure again."
He sat back in his chair, "So what have you got?"
"Well, the first thing I have to mention is he's still scared shitless of Doctor Scott. I didn't have the authority to do a plea bargain, obviously, but the only thing I had to promise was that we wouldn't let Rachel infect him with Ebola!"
He nearly spat out his coffee, "Ebola! Seriously? Rachel threatened him with Ebola? You didn't tell me that Kara."
"It was really quite scary Captain," Foster replied, smiling, "It's funny in retrospect, but at the time I actually thought she might do it, and he was convinced she would. She had big eyes and she looked absolutely feral. She spelled out in detail what would happen to him, even down to blood streaming out of his eyeballs!"
"Wow, I didn't think Rachel had it in her!" exclaimed Danny.
"Don't underestimate her. That day she was one scary woman," Kara told her boyfriend, "I would've told her what she wanted to know!"
"Amen to that," he quirked a smile and then turned to face Green, "So anything about the sub?"
"Aye sir," replied the man, "She's a Trafalgar Class SSN. She was HMS Torbay."
"Shit!" he exclaimed.
"Bad news?" asked Danny.
"Pretty much," replied Kara, "She's not brand new but she's active service and she carries Tomahawks and Spearfish torpedoes. They're good subs. The only possible positive for us is that they've had some nuclear plant issues over the past few years and that might make her noisier and easier to track."
Danny stared at her in surprise, and she retorted, "What? I was the acting TAO and our only likely opponent was going to be a submarine. Of course I read up on different sub classes!"
Tom hid a smile. Yet more evidence that Kara Foster was a damn fine Navy officer, "I concur with your conclusions Kara. Anything more on the sub or personnel?" he asked Green.
"Yeah, a bit actually," Green told him, reading from his notes, "It turns out that he was a sub-lieutenant on the boat and that his brother was an engineering officer, a lieutenant-commander. It was Ned's first cruise on a sub; he'd been in surface ops until then. They're both immune and Ned was in a complete panic - everyone else on board died. His brother Sean took over and reassured him they would save themselves. They managed to make contact with other Immunes and Sean started styling it as some sort of act of deliverance. Most of the guys on the sub now are mercs but most of the people on land who follow them are what he calls "true believers"."
"Ugh," he commented, thinking of the Middle East, "that's got bad connotations."
"Agreed. But this is quite important. At the beginning they were recruiting really well. They had operations in the UK and the southern US but when we took the cure to the UK they lost most of their support base overnight. They tried to attack the UK vaccine manufacturing operations but the Brits had them too well-hidden, and then they attacked Heathrow but didn't manage to do as much damage as they wanted.
"They had to go and reload missiles, and they only just got out of Faslane before the Brits re-established control, so they refocused on the US. And, apparently, it was going great until in early-January someone started circulating the BBC World Service transmissions…"
"Valkyrie?" he asked. Wow, if that was true she really had done them a favour.
"Probably," replied Green, "Since then it's been tough for them to recruit and they've been suffering a drop off in "true believers", and they've been having harassment actions against them. They're still strong in Florida, but they've pulled back from Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. And The Voice of America was the last straw. Apparently, Rachel's broadcast at the end of January was massively destructive to what they were doing and they lost a lot of support and their support base is really falling away."
"Wow, the power of the press!" observed Foster, "or rather the Power of the Brit!"
"Do you think Rachel will do more press for us?" observed Green, not totally jokingly.
He held his hands up, "If you want it, you get to ask for it!" he told the man, "but make sure you wear your body armour!" They all grinned, imagining just such a scenario.
Green's face took on a more serious look, "Unfortunately we also have confirmation that it was their group that attacked the labs and eminent virologists, Captain. Apparently, a secondary network of labs was set up after the first group was taken down, but Ned thinks they got most of those as well. They were lucky enough to raid a lab in Jacksonville that had details of the rest on a secure server. It's confirmed that it was them that attacked Fort Detrick and Porton Down."
"Damn," These people were scum. They deserved to be tried for crimes against humanity. "Did he say where he thinks the sub will go?"
"They have a base near Miami. He thinks they'll probably go down there to re-provision and gather some more personnel."
"We'll have to go down there at some point. But the sub could be anywhere. I think we'll have to carry on with humanitarian operations and let them come to us," he mused, "OK, good work both of you. I'll discuss this with the President and keep you updated."
"Aye sir," they both replied
2 March 2015
"Have a seat Kara," he invited.
"Thanks, sir," she replied, "he's really kicking today."
He smiled sympathetically, "Water?"
"Thanks," she replied, trying to make herself comfortable.
He waited for her and then broached the subject of the meeting, "So, have you managed to get all the after-action reports collated?"
"Yes sir," she replied, "I finally got in to interview the Master Chief the day before yesterday and he was the last one I had to speak to." He was pleased; Russ's injuries had been very complex and he'd been unconscious for over a week after the attack.
"So I've collated all the reports, sir," she told him, "and I've got the initial medal citations sorted out as we discussed." He smiled. She was doing a damn good job as XO and he was going to be sorry to lose her when she went on leave. "But there is one thing that came up in the Master Chief's report. There was an inconsistency with Lieutenant Bivas' report but I've followed up with her and she confirms that the Master Chief's version was correct."
What was this? "What's it about?" he queried.
Kara pursed her lips, "It's about Doctor Scott, sir," she sighed. "It only came up because the Master Chief recommended her for a Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award." He raised his eyebrows. "I know," she commented, "I had to look it up! The problem is there isn't really an award that covers what she's done, apart from the Presidential Medal of Freedom or the Congressional Gold Medal, and those aren't really in our remit to award. There is a clause in this award definition that cites unusual acts of heroism.
"The other issue is why he felt she needed to be awarded this medal," she gave him a humorous look, "It won't be a surprise to you that she was disobeying orders!"
No, that wasn't a surprise! "Whose?" he asked.
"Mine," she laughed, "It was when she went down with Bivas to get to the Master Chief's party towards the end of the incursion. I told her not to do anything stupid and Ravit to take care of her. It turns out that her definition of not stupid includes things that most people's doesn't!" she smiled ruefully and then continued at his questioning look, "Like running down a p-way in a crossfire to get to your crewmates to treat them!"
He looked at her, stunned, "What?" He was both amused and angry. Why did she risk her life like that? Damn that woman.
"If she hadn't done it, we would have lost the Master Chief," she told him, "She knew that. She told Bivas she had to go, or he would die. That's how Bivas justified it to me."
He couldn't help but smile. "At least it's not just my orders she disobeys. I thought it was just me."
She looked at him ruefully, "She once told me that following orders wasn't her forte."
"No shit." Now he shook his head ruefully, "OK, was that the only surprise from what we've discussed before?"
"Yes sir," she replied.
"OK, leave it with me, I'll go over everything and send the final report to the President's Office." His final report would also include a section and recommendations about the actions of one Kara Foster, but she didn't need to know that.
18 March 2015
"Welcome back Mike," he told his XO and friend, "It's good to have you back."
"Good to be here Tom," It wasn't like they hadn't seen each other, after all. He'd been in to see Mike in hospital once he regained consciousness and he and the kids had been regular visitors at the Slattery house during Mike's recovery period.
"I hope you've caught up on your beauty sleep, because there's lots to do!" he told his friend. "How's the rehabilitation going?" Mike still wasn't 100% but he was cleared for light duty. You could tell he wasn't quite right. He'd lost quite a bit of weight and he favoured his right side, but Nicky Etherington was back and she had a lot of the returning wounded crewpeople on customised programs in the gym. The Major promised that she'd have his people back to full fitness before Nathan James was due to resume her voyage on 20th April. She had assured him she wasn't coming with them this time!
The Major was part of the remnants of the deployed British medical team. While they had found a few US military medics over the course of their virus-relief work they were by no way up to a full complement, even for the base hospital here. A number of the British medical team had volunteered to stay behind until they had enough US expertise to maintain a viable solution. Just one more example of the increasingly close relationship between the US and UK since the virus.
"It's possible I didn't cut Rachel enough slack when she was going through this," the XO commented, "That woman is horrific. It's like having a second Christine!"
"I'll make sure not to tell either of them you said that!" he told Mike, who groaned.
"So what's the news?" Mike asked, shifting in his chair, "Have you heard from Rachel?"
"Yes, I got an email from her yesterday," he replied, "It sounds rather like what we were doing on the east coast. They fly into a city, spread the cure, make sure there's enough C&C in place and head out after a few days. She said it's still as heartbreaking as it was before. The cities are still basically morgues but mortality rates in the burbs and in the country are much lower. There've been a couple of cases of faulty batches of Cure which have caused complications as well."
"Missing her?" Mike asked.
He smiled sadly. He wasn't sure if Mike was teasing or not but he decided to answer truthfully, "Yes, I am actually. She and you were the only ones on board who really know me. You're the only ones who treat me like a human being, not as Captain. Foster's a good kid but she doesn't have the history you and I have and she…" he was going to say that she didn't have the experience that Rachel had, but it was more than that, "she's just not Rachel."
Mike smiled sadly, "I understand. Though thank God she's not Rachel, otherwise she'd probably be in command by now!" They both grinned, "But since I'm such a good person, I'll do my best to take the piss out of you enough for the both of us!"
"Thanks XO," he replied ironically, "You're too kind."
Mike shifted, and assumed his "getting down to business" face, and he knew the banter part of the conversation was over.
"So what's the situation with personnel?" he asked.
"Well," Tom replied, "Garnett is already back, as is Mason and he's promoted to lieutenant, Green knew a good Corpsman so he's coming in to replace Rios. Russ should be back end of next week so we should be able to start whipping them into shape again. I'm seeing potential replacement TAOs this afternoon, and that should be in your calendar as well…"
26 March 2015
"Dr Hu's office."
"Hi, could I speak to Dr Hu please? It's Commander Tom Chandler," he was struggling to keep his voice calm and not bite the receptionist's head off.
"Oh, certainly Commander, I'll just get her." He thanked the man and waited for a few seconds.
"Something up Commodore?" It was not Hu's voice but another well-known one.
"Tex? I was trying to get hold of Connie. Wait, I thought you were with Rachel? Is everything OK?" he hadn't heard anything.
"Relax Commodore," the man replied in his chilled out voice, "The Little Lady's fine. And everything's brilliant. When we were down south a few days ago Rachel insisted that we went searching for my daughter Kat. Unfortunately her Mom didn't make it, but Kat was good and we brought her back with us. Rachel insisted I brought her back here. Said the road's no place for a teenager."
"That's great news Tex, I'm really happy for you." And it was, and he was.
"Thanks Tom, I'm pretty chuffed too," the man replied.
"Chuffed? What the Hell is chuffed?" he wondered.
"It's a British-ism. Must have picked it up from your girlfriend! Means pleased."
He sputtered, "My girlfriend? Who do you mean?"
"Me thinks you doth protest too much Commodore," teased the annoying man, "I'm not in your chain of command. And I've got eyes." Just as he was going to deny it again the man shocked him, "She really misses you, you know?" It sent a wave of warmth through him. "When she gets an email from you, she lights up like a Christmas tree. You can see the smile on her face." He was glad he was alone in his office as he was sure he was wearing a goofy smile.
There was talking at the other end of the line. "See you soon Commodore. My delightful other half is here."
His "Bye Tex" was drowned out as an energy-filled voice asked, "Tom, what's up?"
Back to business, "Connie, I got the memo today about the virologist. I thought Rachel was coming with us? When she left, she was planning to come back out with us. What's happened? Why do we get this Ross Welsh guy instead?" He just couldn't help it. The annoyance had been building since he got the memo and he just couldn't stop the words coming.
She was silent for a few seconds, which was most unlike Connie Hu, "Connie?" he questioned.
"Uh- Sorry Tom. You don't want Dr Welsh?"
"I thought we were getting Rachel? I don't know if you understand Connie, but Rachel has a really special place in the hearts of the crew. She sent us to contact the Brits after the Vyerni and we rescued her from the Russians and everybody saw what the cost was to her of what she did. And since then she's been our shipmate and our doctor and our friend. She saved forty of my crew's lives when we were attacked, and she worked herself into the ground to do it. We don't get that with any other virologist."
"I understand that Tom," Obviously not, if you're not sending us Rachel, "But Rachel's flat out at the moment. It's not her choice. She wants to be with you, and I think we can get the schedules to work for later in your trip but for now, it's got to be Dr Welsh."
He sighed, "Well if we can't get Rachel what about one of the other docs? That guy Milowsky is Navy. What about him?"
"I'm afraid Doctor Milowsky is a specialist on vaccine manufacture. We need him where he is. Dr Welsh's team is one of our best. He comes highly recommended. And he's British as well."
"Oh come on Connie, can't you reorganise the schedules?" he pleaded.
"Tom, I know Rachel's your friend and you're hers, but you do remember we're dealing with an Apocalypse here? We have to deploy the teams that are available, and the Welsh team is one of our best. Now is there anything else Captain?" Her voice was unyielding and he realised he'd pushed as far as he could.
Damn! "No, I guess not Doctor. Thank you."
This was a major disappointment. Because he was done thinking. He needed Rachel to be back here.
He'd thought about her a lot over the past five weeks since she'd been away. He'd pictured her in his head. One of the first pictures that came into his head was her in surgical scrubs treating the wounded after the attack.
Not the image of her exhausted face and blood-covered scrubs. He was keen to push that image away, for many reasons. No, this had been a few days after the attack, after the arrival of the British medical team. She had been standing in the corner talking to one of the British medics when he had entered the Hangar Bay. He had looked over and seen her, and he was struck by how gorgeous she had looked. Her hair was freshly washed, drawn up in a ponytail and trailing down her back. She was too far away for him to see the tiredness around her eyes, but his own eyes had been drawn to how well she filled out the scrubs, and a totally inappropriate question had hit him. I wonder if she's wearing a bra? He had been internally shocked and had immediately moved to focus on anything else, but now he kept being drawn back to that image of her in his subconscious.
That image also had other connotations which seemed to sum up Rachel in his thoughts. She had cared for his crew and she had cared for him physically when he'd been injured, and mentally when he'd needed her as well, and she had cared for his kids and his father physically and mentally as well. Here was a woman who cared about him and all who were dear to him. And here was a woman that was easy to care for and love. Here was a woman who cared, full stop. Rachel had more empathy for the people of the world than anyone he had ever met. She was a good person. Sure, she wasn't always easy to be with, but she'd changed since the Vyerni. A lot of her hard edges had been eroded and she was a different person, a more accessible person.
And he realised that he loved her. Body and spirit, he loved Rachel Scott. He had accepted it now, and he just wanted to tell her that. And that was why he was so disappointed that she wouldn't make it back to Norfolk by 20th April.
11 April 2015
Ding Ding, Ding Ding, Ding Ding, Ding Ding, "United States, arriving," the tannoy intoned, and Tom stood to attention and saluted, as did the rest of the crew arrayed behind him on the flight deck. "His Royal Highness, King Henry, arriving."
The President had asked for this ceremony two weeks ago and it had been two weeks of flat-out activity as they worked on Nathan James' refit, as well as tidying her up for the President and the King. But now the ship gleamed inside and out, and had had a fresh coat of paint as well. The President had asked to address the crew and had asked that crew's families be accommodated as well, so his Dad and kids were here, as well as Mike's family and many others.
And they had welcomed others back to be with the crew. Tex was here, standing with Danny Green's team and wearing a smart suit, and Kara Foster was here, wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant Commander and standing with the ship's tactical department, next to the new TAO LCDR Alison Wells. And unexpectedly Rachel had sent Burk and Miller back to be here for this ceremony although she hadn't come herself, which he was a bit disappointed about. Burk had explained that she had planned to be here, but that an emergency in Des Moines had sent her there instead.
He stepped forward to receive the President, who was accompanied by his Chief of Staff Bill Wang. A woman called Alison Shaw had held that position for about two weeks, but the Secret Service had developed some bad intelligence on her and she had been replaced and taken into custody. While one didn't exactly interrogate the President when he asked to visit one's ship, he had done a little bit of investigation to find out the reason for the visit. And come up with a blank. No-one was talking, including Kara Foster who was the President's Armed Forces liaison.
"Welcome Mr President," he told the man.
"Morning Tom," the President replied, "Still wondering?" he enquired cheekily, and Tom looked askance at the man, "Don't worry, all shall be revealed soon." And he smirked at Tom, before turning to introduce the man who had come up behind him, "Your Highness? It is my great pleasure to introduce Commander Tom Chandler, Captain of the Nathan James."
Tom saluted, noticing Brigadier Wilkins standing behind his Highness. What's going on here? He thought. "Welcome aboard, your Highness. It's a great honor to have you here."
The man extended his hand and he returned the gesture, surprised by the King's strong grip, and even more surprised as he brought his other hand round to clasp Tom's hand in both his, "No, the honour is all mine, Captain," the King told him, "Brigadier Wilkins, Colonel Richardson and Major Etherington have told me lots about you and your crew. It genuinely is an honour to be here and to meet the crew who brought us the Cure. It's only disappointing that Doctor Scott couldn't be here as well."
He smiled sadly, "Yes sir, she's greatly missed."
"She is, Captain," agreed the President, "but I'm sure she's here in spirit. Now shall we get this Dog and Pony show out the way so that we can go somewhere less formal?"
"Agreed," said his Highness and so he led the honoured guests to the podium and the President stepped up as he went back to stand with Mike.
"Good morning Nathan James!" The President greeted, "It is a great pleasure for me to be here to speak to you today. And also an honor. This ship, and this crew, is now famous the world over for your achievements, and deservedly so. I have to say that the ship looks fantastic today. Totally different from how she looked the last time I was aboard!
"However, I'm also conscious that what I'm going to say is likely to disappoint some of you who've worked so hard to tidy the ship up, particularly those of you who did the paintwork…" he paused while everybody tried to make out what he was driving at.
"In my previous life in Washington I wasn't too au fait with Naval affairs and when I took over this job, I asked around for people who were. You see over the past few months I've spent a lot of time catching up on what happened while there was no government in this country, as well as working on building a new one. One of the things I've done is read a lot of after-action reports from Nathan James' ship's officers, and also compared notes with our allies," he inclined his head towards the King, standing beside him.
"What you, as a ship and as a crew, have achieved over the past eleven months has been frankly astonishing. Now, I know that if an individual sailor does a great job, you give him or her a medal. But what do you do for a ship? And do you give a medal if you're not in a war? Well the second question's the easiest to answer, because I think you'll all agree, we are in a war. A war where the prize isn't victory. It's survival. Survival of the Human race and survival of our way of life. And because of your work we are doing well in our war. We haven't won it yet, because there are still people dying, but we've had some notable victories along the way, and we are winning.
"In fact Dr Hu of the CDC shared a map with me yesterday which shows the extent of our success. For the first time the continental United States has as much clear area as infected area. Now that is a battle won!" They all cheered.
"But back to my conundrum. Fortunately, a little birdie in my office told me that there is a way to honor an entire ship's crew. And that's where my comment about paint jobs comes in, because I'm afraid yours is out of date, because as of today I am awarding USS Nathan James a Presidential Unit Citation for this crew's heroism in bringing the Cure for the Red Flu to the World and, in addition, I am awarding an additional Navy Unit Commendation to the ship for your work in spreading the cure and re-establishing order throughout the United States. Congratulations to each and every one of you. Without your fantastic work, I am confident in saying we would not be here."
They cheered then. Tom wondered how had the President kept this quiet? Foster must have been the "little birdy". In fact, he was sure of it. She had hidden it from him as well. He thought about trying to keep the broad grin off his face but decided that just this once he could be seen to be happy, for his crew and for himself, because what they had done was special, and he was pleased it would be recognised.
The cheering died down as the President remained at the podium and he spoke again. "Now, unfortunately someone very special was supposed to be here today but couldn't make it. I want you all to know that she tried as hard as she could to be here, but that there is an emergency in Des Moines and she had to be there. She has, however, sent a message."
He signalled to Bill Wang, who in turn signalled to a seaman standing on the corner of the deck. There was a crackling of speakers and then a very familiar voice came across the speakers, "Good Morning Nathan James, this is Doctor Rachel Scott," Tom jerked as Rachel's beautiful British accent spilled out of the speakers and he smiled as he heard Sammy in the crowd exclaim "Rachel!".
She continued, "I, along with Lieutenant Bivas and Senior Chief Taylor, am sorry that we can't be with you for this very special day today. We had hoped to be there, but unfortunately an emergency has arisen and we can't make it. But please know that, even though we may not be with you in the flesh, our hearts and our spirits are with you. Nathan James is our home and you are our family and friends, and no-one deserves these awards and recognition more than you.
"Although the others joined later I've been through many bad times and good times with all of you. I'll always be grateful to you for chasing me all over the Atlantic and coming to rescue me from the Vyerni. While we didn't necessarily get on well before I was kidnapped by the Russians, we certainly came to appreciate each other's company more when I returned," Tom was unable to hide a snort at the sarcastic humor in her voice, as she continued, "and I feel that we've really bonded since that time. I've been lucky enough to be the recipient of your professional approach to your work when I was on the Vyerni, but also to work alongside you and admire your professionalism first hand since rejoining the crew. I strongly believe that no other crew in the US Navy could have accomplished what you have all accomplished and I thank God every day that I was assigned to Nathan James and not some other ship, otherwise I do not believe we would all be here now.
"We hope that you all enjoy your day and we look forward to admiring the new paint job the next time we see you, hopefully from land so that we can share a beer or a glass of champagne with you! Godspeed Nathan James."
Tom was hard-pressed to keep the tears from his eyes as the voice of the woman who he had now admitted he loved faded from the speakers. Judging from the comments he heard behind him from the crew they were also touched by her words.
The President paused for a few minutes before telling them, "Now I believe His Highness has a few words to add."
The King stepped up, "Thank you Mr President. Thank you to all of you as well for entertaining me today," he gave a broad smile, "Now, I won't go on long. I'm not a politician and as a military officer I've been where you're standing as well!" Many smiled at this, remembering the King's oft-discussed service in Afghanistan, "I want to re-iterate the President's thanks for a job well-done and add my own.
"Nathan James arrived in UK waters on the 1st of December 2014. We were struggling. I don't know how much longer we could have held on for. Britain is a much smaller country than the United States and with fewer natural resources, smaller land area and high population density. I think that if it had taken three months' longer, Britain as a country would no longer exist. You made it possible for our country to survive and we can never repay that debt.
"But we can acknowledge it." He paused, looking around and his eyes finally settled on Tom, "The George Cross is our highest award for conspicuous courage and gallantry not in the presence of the enemy. It has been awarded to many outstanding men and woman since its establishment in 1940. It was awarded to the island of Malta during the Second World War, an island that endured a long period of sustained action and refused to give up. I'm sure that you can see the similarities with your situation. We have been in discussion with the President and we cited the example of many of the most senior American general officers who accepted knighthoods after the Second World War. The President has agreed that we may make a unit award of the George Cross to the USS Nathan James. Thank you for your service, on behalf of a grateful ally."
Tom stood stunned. It was too much. He had studied the history of Malta during World War 2 when he had been at the academy and to receive the same award as they had, plus a Presidential Unit Citation and a Navy Unit Commendation, all on the same day, was just totally unprecedented. But it seemed His Highness was not finished.
"Captain Chandler, will you approach please?" he requested, and Tom marched up to the podium. Would they give the medal to him on behalf of the crew? An aide stepped around the podium and placed a cushion on the floor in front of the King. "Kneel please Captain," requested His Highness as Tom reached him. Tom stared at him, wondering what was happening, as Brigadier Wilkins marched towards the King, carrying a beautiful sword balanced horizontally across his hands. No way.
"Commander Thomas Chandler," the King intoned, "You have done more than anyone, with the exception of one other, to bring The Cure for the Red Flu to the world. The President has agreed that you be offered an honorary knighthood as a gesture of thanks, on behalf of the British Nation." He gently took the sword from the Brigadier, who was grinning at Tom, and lightly touched it on each of his shoulders. "Arise Sir Thomas Chandler, Knight, Commander of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath."
20 April 2015
He looked at his watch. It was 13.00 and they were just drawing their senior staff meeting to a close. The new virologist had still not arrived. Apparently there had been some problem with flights. They were planning to get underway at 14.30. If the man couldn't make it in time, then he'd just have to catch up in a chopper. He was fucked if he was going to wait for him.
"Mike, could you just call Connie Hu and chase Dr Welsh?" he asked.
"Sure, Captain," The XO replied, going to the phone on the bulkhead.
"In the mean-time does anybody have anything else that we need to cover?" he paused and looked round his department heads. He was pleased that his team was back together. Only Kara Foster was missing of his senior staff. She had been replaced by Lieutenant Commander Wells, an ASW specialist, but she was in CIC dealing with some last-minute setup issues and had had to miss the senior staff meeting.
"He's arriving now, Captain," The XO reported. "If it's OK with you, I'll go and welcome him aboard and bring him down here?"
He inclined his head minutely. He still wasn't happy with this. He wanted Rachel back and didn't want to have to deal with this interloper. "That'll be fine XO. We'll stay here to meet him before we go and prepare to get underway." As Mike left, he looked at the others, "Help yourselves to refreshments," he told them. There was no need to stand on ceremony while he waited for this idiot to deign to arrive. To be fair, he was sure the new guy was fine. Connie Hu wouldn't have given them someone who wasn't after all, but it just stuck in his craw that it wasn't Rachel. Connie had said that when Rachel became available it might be possible to do a swap, but she was certain that Tom would be happy with Dr Welsh. He seriously doubted it. Both professionally and personally no one was going to live up to Rachel and he knew he wasn't the only one in the crew who thought that way.
He was just talking to Andrea about some of the watch changes in her department when there was a knock at the door.
At least he's polite, Tom thought, "Enter!" he called.
He turned around just as the door opened and the long-awaited, and long-dreaded virologist, finally entered and stated "Doctor Ross Welsh, reporting for duty Captain."
A/N 1: In the episode Solace, where we see the Ramsays for the first time, Ned is wearing the single stripe of a sub-lieutenant which is a junior RN rank equivalent to Lieutenant JG in the US Navy and his brother, although significantly older, is wearing the rank of Lieutenant, which is comparable to the US rank. Either Sean was a lousy officer or they got his rank wrong on the show, which is what I've assumed.
A/N 2: A knighthood isn't just a knighthood. There are different levels. Currently there are six orders of chivalry and four orders of merit. And within each order there are also different ranks. The Most Honourable Order of the Bath was established in 1725 and as a Commander, Tom is at the second level (below Knight Grand Cross). The order was previously awarded to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur after WW2 and General Norman Schwarzkopf and General Colin Powell after the Gulf War.
